affronté

See also: affronte

English

A rose betwixt two lions affronté (facing each other) gules, arms of Hepburn (cf. the 1804 quotation).

A lion affronté (facing the viewer) gules on the crest of Scotland (see the 1889 quotation).

Etymology

Borrowed from French affronté, past participle of affronter (“to confront, face”).

Adjective

affronté (not comparable)

1. (heraldry) Face to face, or with the fronts facing each other.

   Synonym: confronté

   Antonym: addorsed

   • 1804, Alexander Nisbet, A system of heraldry, speculative and practical: with the true art of Blazon ... Illustrated with suitable examples of armorial figures, and achievements of the most considerable surnames and families in Scotland ..., page 163:

     ... viz. quarterly, first and fourth gules, on a cheveron argent, a rose betwixt two lions affronté gules, for Hepburn; second and third argent, an orle gules, and in chief three martlets sable, for Rutherford; crest, a horse […]

   • 1910, Amy Milton Kohlsaat, Old Lace Manual, page 11:

     […] earliest designs were geometric, birds affronté (facing one another), peacocks, pomegranates, unicorns, pelicans, and […]

2. (heraldry) Looking frontwise, or toward the viewer.
   • 1889, The Calvert Papers, page 42:

     The crest of SCOTLAND [ - A lion affronté gules, crowned imperially Or, in the dexter paw a sceptre erect, surmounted by a fleur de lis gold; in the […] ]

   • 2010 01, Wm. E. Baumgaertner, Squires, Knights, Barons, Kings: War and Politics in Fifteenth Century England, Trafford Publishing, →ISBN:

     […] ; and (5) an ostrich feather with a scroll on the quill reading “Sovereign”, supported by a lion sejeant-affronté (seated, looking towards the viewer), but with the dexter paw holding the quill (Rothery, p.202).

Alternative forms

• affrontée, affrontee, affronty

Synonyms

• affronted, affrontant

Further reading

• “affronté”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• 1866, William Henry Whitmore, The Elements of Heraldry: Containing an Explanation of the Principles of the Science and a Glossary of the Technical Terms Employed, page 28:

  AFFRONTÉ : facing the spectator; or, as applied to two animals facing each other.

• 1847, Henry Gough, A Glossary of Terms Used in British Heraldry: With a Chronological Table, Illustrative of Its Rise and Progress, page 8:

  AFFRONTÉ : facing the spectator, as the lion in the crest of Scotland. Also used when two animals face each other, but in that case the terms Confronté and Respecting each other, are more generally employed.

French

Pronunciation

• Audio

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Participle

affronté (feminine affrontée, masculine plural affrontés, feminine plural affrontées)

1. past participle of affronter

Further reading

• “affronté”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.